Healthy banana bread full of delicious vanilla roasted strawberries.
It’s Tuesday but I feel like I am still recovering from the long weekend! I think it has something to do with 13+ hours of driving for a two-day trip, dancing all night long at my cousin’s wedding, and the hotel neighbors that found it necessary to blast music and yell at each other at 2am the night before we had a 6:30 departure time. That’s always fun.
But all in all, it really was a great weekend! The highlight was being reunited with my dad’s side of the family. We realized that it has been about twenty five years since all of the cousins were in the same place at the same time. There were seven of us then. This time around, with marriages, and a new generation, there were twelve of us. While there has been a lot of loss on that side of the family, it is a definite bright spot to see so many of us starting wonderful families of our own. Hopefully the next time we all meet, it won’t be so long from now and there will be even more of us.
I made this banana bread a few weeks ago when Matt’s friends were in town. There were a few extra brown bananas on the counter and I had a little baking marathon. The banana bread wasn’t as big of a hit as the blueberry pie, but it was a good healthy snack and breakfast addition.
The best part of baking this banana bread was the unbelievable aroma from roasting the strawberries. Next time I’m going to roast extra berries and use them as an ice cream topping. It was hard to put them right into the batter instead of eating them straight up!
- 7 ounces (~1⅓ cup) sliced strawberries plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for roasting
- 6⅞ ounces (1¼ cups) white whole wheat flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2½ ounces (~1/2 cup lightly packed) brown sugar
- 1 ounces (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 2 x-large egg whites at room temperature
- 10½ ounces (~1 cup) mashed brown banana (~3 medium)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Roast strawberries; pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside
- Toss sliced strawberries with vanilla and spread out on prepared baking sheet
- Roast in oven for 20 minutes
- While strawberries are roasting, prepare rest of banana bread
- Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt); set aside
- In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light creamy; add egg whites and mix on medium speed for a minute
- Scrape sides of bowl; add banana, applesauce and vanilla; mix on medium speed until combined
- Reduce speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients just until combined, do not overmix batter
- Once strawberries are done cooking, gently fold them into batter; bake for 35-40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from center of loaf
- Allow to cool before removing loaf from pan
- Best served immediately; store tightly wrapped in seran wrap up to 3 days at room temperature or freeze up to one month
Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.
You might also like:
Healthy Blueberry Banana Bread
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Quinoa Banana Bread
I need to get on this roasted strawberry trend. Great idea to put it in with banana bread!
I made a strawberry banana bread once too… I didn’t touch it for a couple of days and then bit into it and noticed the strawberries had gone bad!!! Gotta eat this quick…which shouldn’t be a problem :)
That is so true! I think the moisture in the strawberries is the issue for timing.
This looks delicious!! Love it!
Roasted strawberries are heavenly aren’t they? This bread look gorgeous though!
Oh yeah- I love roasted strawberries in everything and mixed into a healthy banana bread sounds even better. Can you deliver this to me for breakfast? It actually sounds good which is a perk!! ;)
Any time:-)
We must have been thinking about the strawberry-banana combination at the same time! I had just dabbled with adding a homemade balsamic strawberry sauce to my banana bread recipe. I was pleasantly surprised with how yummy it turned out!
I will now have to try roasting them too! Thanks for a great post.
So funny! Your Balsamic Strawberry Banana Bread sounds amazing.
I’ve never had roasted strawberries. I think it’s time to remedy that. With this bread. Because you totally can’t go wrong with a strawberry banana combo. YUM.
You have to try it this summer, the smell is so amazing!
I love the idea of putting roasted strawberries into banana bread, plus the low fat whole wheat element makes it perfect for summer.
That sounds like a CRAZY weekend. If I were you I would just be sleeping the week away! :P
But this loaf is gorgeous. We always seem to have extra bananas around and I love baking something for the.boy to have for breakfast, but feel guilty if it’s too decadent. This is perfect! Just the right amount of sweet to start your day with!
Love that you roast the strawberries before adding them!
Oh yum! Vanilla and roasted strawberries, delicious!! :)
I have a zillion brown bananas on my counter due to traveling… game over!
Brilliant idea to add roasted strawberries to banana bread! I’d love a slice (or three) right now.
Hurray for summer family reunions! :D